Lightning bolts lit up the sky and thunder clapped as engineering students from around the nation were faced with the seemingly impossible task of making concrete float.
This was the setting for the 24th annual American Society of Civil Engineers’ Concrete Canoe Competition, a competition from which the Cal Poly team walked away with its second consecutive “America’s Cup of Civil Engineering” award.
“We had downpours and lightning until about 1 o’clock, and every lightning strike, we’d be 20 minutes late,” said Jim Jennings, spokesperson for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). “None of the teams faltered.”
The Cal Poly team wavered less than the rest of its opponents, taking first place in the overall competition and the final product categories. Cal Poly members took home a number of second place plaques as well, in the categories of men’s and women’s endurance, women’s and co-ed sprints and group oral presentation. Members also placed fourth in the men’s sprint and the group design report.
Cal Poly finished first in the final product category for three consecutive years and has won the overall competition twice in a row.
“It was extremely rewarding to have been part of a team that took a project of this scale from start to finish and being able to represent Cal Poly in the national spotlight,” said Danielle Steinmetz, a mix design captain for the Cal Poly team and civil and environmental engineering graduate student. “We could not be more proud of what we have accomplished in every aspect of the project.”
Twenty-three schools competed in the national competition, Jennings said. That number was narrowed down from a pool of 230 schools that participated in regional competitions. Teams battled it out at this year’s host location of Evansville, Indiana.
“We had 23 schools this year,” Jennings said. “Ironically one of the schools, Fairmont University in West Virginia, their canoe broke, and they had to duct tape it together. And it did very well, and that is the creative thinking that these kids have.”
Students are judged not only on their creativity but their academic and problem solving skills as well. The criterion is made up of four main categories: the design report, the overall presentation, the races and the final product. Each component is worth 25 percent of the team’s overall score.
Jennings said the categories challenge students to use their prior knowledge in new and useful ways.
“I think it just shows that civil engineering students, while still in school, apply their educational experience to practical application, and it just involves intense problem solving situations,” Jennings said. “It’s a long-term project. They map it out. They document it. That is, it’s one-third of the contest points are based upon their documentation of how they design their canoe, and the products that they use and their thinking process. It’s a very, very intelligent process.”
Steinmetz said she agrees that one of her most rewarding experiences in the competition was being able to apply her engineering skills to something fun.
“One of my favorite parts of the project was trying to come up with new ideas that would help set us apart from our competition,” Steinmetz said.
One way the Cal Poly team differentiated themselves from the pack was through its unique concrete mixture. A component of this year’s competition was the incorporation of a sustainable aggregate into the concrete that the teams used to build their canoes. The Cal Poly team satisfied this requirement by integrating crushed porcelain from used toilets which were donated by local plumbers.
“Not only did the porcelain fit our needs, but it gave us something to joke about all year,” Steinmetz said.
She said she thinks the creativity that is promoted by this competition is something that will carry over into her professional life as well.
“The structural analysis program that we used on the canoe is taught at Cal Poly and is used in industry,” she said. “We learned so much about concrete as a building material and how to alter it to fit our purpose. We made concrete float!”